Roscommon boss Kevin McStay says that Sunday’s Connacht final is a shot at redemption for his side after last year’s collapse.

It’s perhaps forgotten that in the dying seconds of last year’s drawn game with Galway, Roscommon were in possession and looking to work a winning score before the final whistle sounded.

They lost the replay heavily, however, and within a week were gone out of the Championship. They didn’t break their losing streak until beating Cavan in their final League game in April and then overcame Leitrim in the Connacht semi-final last month.

In fairness, McStay has made no secret of the fact that the League commanded less of Roscommon’s focus this year and they have effectively been training with a Connacht final in mind all year.

“Ultimately we had the ball when the referee blew his whistle in the drawn match and therefore we must have a fighting chance,” McStay insists.

“Neither team could have improved or disimproved that much in 12 months. That’d be our feeling about it. If we’re ultra competitive, we’re smart and we get the match-ups well sorted out…”

He continued: “We let ourselves down in the replay and the round four game. That wasn’t a fair reflection of what we were and certainly we’d have to do an awful lot better this year.

“It’s not hurt, I don’t feel hurt about it. I feel disappointed and I was a little bit embarrassed if the truth be told because a lot of the things we were hoping to get done, we didn’t get done.

“So this is a great chance of redemption for us now.”

As close as they were to beating Galway last year, McStay admits that their opponents have kicked on considerably under Kevin Walsh since.

“They definitely have. They’ve got a better pick, they’ve improved their panel. They’ve a little bit more belief in their system, maybe developed their system a little bit more.

“They’re a little bit more adventurous perhaps than they were last year. They have notions to be top eight, top six team and deservedly so.

“They were top eight last year. They’re going into Division One, we’re going the opposite direction. That’s on paper, but in a one-off Championship game, you know.”

However, the Mayo native says that, as big as the Galway challenge is, they’ve faced much more intimidating opposition over the past 18 months or so.

“Over the last two campaigns, we’ve played 15 grade one Division One games over the last whatever amount of months, last year and this year’s Division One campaign, a League semi-final on top of it, plus the other experiences we’ve had.

“Like, we’ve had an awful lot of stuff thrown at us by top, top teams.

“Dublin, Mayo, tough, tough nights and then some really strong performances when we got really close to some of the top teams in the country on National League weekends, entertaining Kerry up here in the Hyde, Donegal, and being ultra competitive with them.

“It’s one thing our players can lean on a little bit as they prepare for this final, even though they were losses.

“They were very competitive losses, especially games at home, so I think they can lean on that and saying Galway are a coming team, no question, but they’re not Tyrone and they’re not Donegal and they’re not Kerry and these teams.”